Manga/Tankōbon/Volume 04
Question #1 Masayuki Katsumata (Osaka Prefecture): Since Son Goku and Kuririn both trained with Kame-Sen'nin, please have "Goku vs Kuririn" be the final match at the Tenka'ichi Budōkai! Akira Toriyama: That's a very intriguing idea, but unfortunately it's too late for this tournament. The final match has already been set as Son Goku vs Jackie Chun. But I think if there ever was a Goku vs Kuririn match, Goku would win overwhelmingly. Question #2 Yoko Yoshida (Shizuoka Prefecture): I always get a thrill reading Dragon Ball. I like Dragon Ball so much that my friends think I'm weird. I have almost all of the toys, I've bought all of the comics, and I record the TV show every week. Akira Toriyama: Wonderful! I hereby grant you a first dan black belt in Toriyama School Shorinji Kempo kung fu. You are my greatest student! Please continue to support my work. Question #3 Yasuhiro Kubo (Nara Prefecture): Just so you know, I really like Oolong tea and Pu'er tea. By the way, on page 18 of volume 1, Son Goku says to Bulma, "I never saw another human before!" Wasn't Goku's grandpa (the guy who raised him) a human? Akira Toriyama: W-Well... if you put it that way... yes. Oops... I made a mistake. Sorry, I apologize. You're also very smart to realize that I got the name "Pu'er" from the name of the Chinese tea. Question #4 Naohiro Yonemoto (Tokushima Prefecture): Hello Toriyama-''sensei''. I have a question. If you had one whole day of uninterrupted free time, what would you do? Akira Toriyama: Occasionally I do have a day of free time. I usually end up sleeping late and when I wake up I may go to the supermarket with my wife, or work on a plastic model, or watch TV, or... I pretty much just putter away the day. Question #5 Takeshi Mayumi (Mie Prefecture): Help! I'm running out of air! Please get some air and send it to me by Kamehameha. Bye. Akira Toriyama: Huh...? W-What are you talking about? I assume that you didn't write this letter while you were drowning... U-Uh... please continue to support my work. Question #6 Masae O'ouchi (Ibaraki Prefecture): Okay, I've figured it out... Dragon Ball is based on the old Chinese legend Saiyuki ("Journey to the West"). Even the characters are the same: Bulma is Sanzo Hoshi, Oolong is Hakkai, Yamcha is Sagojo, and Shenlong is Sanzo Hoshi's horse. Even the order they appear is the same. Am I wrong? I am a girl in my third year of middle school. I am afraid of the high school entrance exams! Akira Toriyama: It's true, in the beginning I set out to create a modern day Saiyuki. But soon it became difficult to remain true to the original, so I started ignoring it. So even though they have the same name, please consider my Son Goku and the monkey king Son Goku to be two different characters. However, I did get the Gyūmaō story from Saiyuki. Good luck on your entrance exams!